Question on Panama Cruise with a young child

We are planning on doing a Panama Canal Cruise in 2016. I have just briefly looked into this, but I think it is going to be a partial transit. I'm starting to look into this now because the Spring of 2016 will come soon. We can get the two weeks off for a full transit, but I'm thinking with our son the shorter one will work best. Our son will be 2 years old in August of 2016. Also the very limited research I have done we are looking at Norwegian Cruise Line.

One question is if there is a better time to go? The Spring or November ish? Also we would do the ferry through the whole canal if possible, but with a young child is this feasible?

We are leaning toward November as it would allow us to not have to save the cash so quickly. Also it is really cold in WI that time of year. However, the spring is fine as we have a few thousand saved for an Australian vacation in 2017 we can borrow the money from. November would require a 3rd plane ticket but that's not the end of the world.

Just looking for info on dates and with a young child

 

One question is if there is a better time to go? The Spring or November ish? Also we would do the ferry through the whole canal if possible, but with a young child is this feasible?

 

 

 

Just looking for info on dates and with a young child

The Dry Season in Panama runs through mid December through April, so the "bad news" is November is within the Rainy Season. The good news is November is not usually extremely wet, particularly the closer you get to December. On the other hand waiting for Spring... late March/April, there would be less chance of rain as that time frame is within the Dry Season. I really would not put too much emphasis on it only perhaps use it as a tie breaker. Just for the record it can and does rain in the Dry Season:)! On the personal preference side, I prefer the weather in November over the late Mar/April time frame.

One other small point, the ferry excursion does not take you all the way through the rest of the Canal. Essentially the ferry excursion is a partial transit of the Pacific side Locks and a passage through Gaillard Cut. What is missing in making it a complete transit is crossing Gatun Lake from Gatun Locks to Gamboa the northern entrance/exit of Gaillard Cut. However transiting the locks first on your Panamax ship at Gatun and then on the ferry on the Pacific Locks gives you two different perspectives of the operation. I also think the Pacific Locks and Gaillard Cut have more visual interests than the Atlantic approach and Locks.

Not much help in the youngster department... been awhile! I wouldn't think it would be a showstopper... an infant might be another issue.

Thanks for your reply. My wife and I have discussed it and late November and/or early December will be the winner. I looked briefly at NCL and that seems to fit the bill, but would it be worth spending $500-600 more for Princess over NCL? NCL seemed to have the most out of the ones I looked at (Carnival, RCCL, Disney, etc.). are there any other cruise lines I should look at?

Thanks again

We did a full transit (FLL to LA) in early November 2012. No rain until one morning heading north to Los Angeles.

While we were on Princess, I think that time of year the pax list will be similar.

That means that there will be a lot of 'bucket list' passengers from all over the world...and it also means that there will be very, very, very few children. I think, on our trip, there were fewer than 12 passengers under the age of 18.

Thanks for your reply. My wife and I have discussed it and late November and/or early December will be the winner. I looked briefly at NCL and that seems to fit the bill, but would it be worth spending $500-600 more for Princess over NCL? NCL seemed to have the most out of the ones I looked at (Carnival, RCCL, Disney, etc.). are there any other cruise lines I should look at?

 

Thanks again

Really hard to say if Princess would be worth the extra... might be a little hard to compare since NCL has not offered this itinerary before... so, no ones knows what sort of activities would be offered to the passengers. What I would be most interested in is whether or not NCL offered destination lecturers, particularly for the Canal. There is a lot of worth the lecturers can provide in a couple of good presentations on the Canal... of course they are also a welcome addition for the other ports. Many of the cruise ships will take on from the Canal a person to provide a narration of the transit that is not your ship's destination lecturer, I would assume NCL would do this too, but it would nice to "bone up" about the Canal while you are sailing to the Canal for your transit. A great sea day activity. Princess has provided these lectures in the past.

Prior to NCL's entry into the 10/11 day partial transits the only two cruise lines offering that itinerary were Princess and HAL. Royal and Celebrity used to offer partial transit cruises a number of yars ago, but I am not aware any of the other mainstream cruise line offering the partial transit itinerary.

Maybe I can offer a little help since I was on a NCL panama canal trip last month. We had NO rain the entire 19 days! This was a full transit and I know this trip has to be superior to the partial transit, but unless you are really into it, I don't think you should miss out on the "partial experience". I would have been happy with the partial if I had time limitations, which I don't as a retired person.

I have been on the ship you would be sailing on- the Pearl. I loved the Pearl and it has so many nice features. Our PC trip was outstanding in so many ways, especially the crew and fellow passengers. I think NCL turned it up a notch for this full transit.

There were very few children on board, maybe 12. They were all well behaved and it was nice to see them enjoying the pool and some other parts of the ship. The kids clubs had to be pretty empty. I imagine that there may be a few more kids on a partial transit but not many school aged kids as the times you are talking about are during the non vacation times of a school year.

You might be going through the new canal next April. That may be one consideration in booking this Nov or next April. I assume you will be required to go through the new locks but no word on that as of yet.

I noted that NCL has reduced their full transits from four this year to just one on the Pearl next year. I wonder if a full transit is profitable for NCL. They are repositioning the Sun, Star and Jewel so they are not going to need to do a PC trip.

Good luck!

Just a note...you will not need an "excursion" on the partial....going in and out of the locks IS an excursion! The excursions are pretty much all day long...and it's ungodly hot...it's nice to be on the ship where you can go back into the air-conditioning, especially with a child!

There will be a navigator onboard who will give a talk as you're going into Lake Gatun...history and facts...very interesting.

Princess might be a somewhat older crowd. NCL has just eliminated shell fish from the main dinning room if that matters. Service seems to be getting slower. Again, sitting with a 2 yr. old through a 1 hr. plus dinner. Not fun.

a partial transit with a 2 year old would be my choice.

Stay on the ship through the locks, it's amazing what you see from there and its hot hot hot outside.

I've done it twice and would still do the partial.

On the full transit there are more sea days to fill.